New Zealand Anchorages

Hi everyone,

This is a technical post!  It describes a GPX file downloadable from our public Dropbox site.  The file contains about 400 New Zealand anchorages, moorings and marinas.  I expect it to grow over time.  It has been compiled primarily from cruising guides.

Overview

The accuracy of these waypoints has NOT been verified.  They are NOT for use in navigation.

GPX files can be loaded into many chartplotters.  This file was constructed in OpenCPN v5.  We have not tried other chartplotters and welcome feedback advising success/failure.

Four main symbols are used:

 Swing anchorage or anchor and rig own shore line(s)

 Anchor and use provided shore line(s)

 Swing mooring or side-moor hawser

 Marina

The GPX file may be downloaded from our Dropbox GPXlibrary folder here.

The filename is 'ZenAgain_NZ_Waypoints.gpx'.

Other files in this folder are zip files of our tracks in various parts of the world.

Most of the marks/waypoints have the ScaleMin parameter set.  This prevents densely packed waypoints obscuring the under-lying chart.  Only those in the screenshot above don't.  For example here is a screenshot showing Northlands overall, including the Bay of Islands.  Only a few are visible in the Bay of Islands.

Northlands Overview

And here's the full set in the Bay of Islands.  They emerge as you zoom in.

Bay of Islands Detail

Another example is Fiordland where only one is visible in the top screenshot above.  Zoom in to see them all.  The screenshot below shows most but not all.

Fiordland Detail

And finally here's a screenshot of Port Pegasus, Stewart Island.

Port Pegasus Detail

The sources used include:

• Island Cruising South Island Rally yearbook (SIR)
• A Boaties Guide to Fiordland (BG2F)
• Fiordland by Sea (FbS)
• Stewart Island Cruising Guide (SICG)
• Various North Island cruising guides
• NoForeignLand

Some of the marks/waypoints provide a NoForeignLand URL and/or cruising guide pages using the acronym shown in () above.  Here's an example's Properties in OpenCPN.  It has three separate sources and ScaleMin is set to 2000000.

 

All names (but not the example above) start with 'ZA_'.  This allows easy sorting and deletion.

The file will be updated occasionally as our New Zealand cruise progresses.

Here's hoping cruisers will find the file useful.  If you do feel free to buy us a beer - link at top-level!

Bay of Islands to Whangaroa Harbour

Hi everyone,

We departed Bay of Islands Marina on Sunday after another very pleasant stay.  We installed our new Starlink Mini system, installed s/s rubbing strakes to protect the transom from the stern anchor chain, and did various other small boat jobs.

Water buoy in Whangaroa Harbour

On Friday afternoon we attended an OCC get-together hosted by OCC Port Officer Nina.  We walked there and back with the crews of sv Beyond the Stars and sv Coral Moon.  Several crews had driven from Whangerei including Shimshal II, Bengt, Kingscem and Masterplan.  Masterplan is, like us, taking part in the Island Cruising South Island Rally so it was particularly nice to meet them for the first time.

We received several other packages at the marina.  One was the Rally pack, including a rally flag and the yearbook.  The latter provides a lot of useful information.  Most valuable is up to date information on Fiordland and Stewart Island anchorages, moorings and facilities.

On Sunday we departed the marina and returned to the anchorage off the Russell Boating Club.  We left the marina with little water aboard since the Opua area was under a 'boil water' notice due to e-coli in the water.  So we dinked in to the Russell Town Jetty where fresh water was available.  We just did one run to fill 4 jerries which almost filled our main water tanks.

At the Duke of Marlborough in Russell

On Tuesday we departed the Bay of Islands.  The 7.5 hour / 36 nm sail took us out of the bay, past the Cavalli Islands and into Whangaroa Harbour.  Initially the wind was light E.  It gradually filled in to 15G20 SE.   The 1.5m NE swell made it a little uncomfortable but it was a nice sail overall.

Track

Arrival Track

Graphs

Bay of Islands astern

Happy Sailor

Passing the Cavallis

The entrance channel of Whangaroa Harbour is fairly narrow and quite spectacular.  Inside the water was calm.  We went into the eastern part of the harbour to be close to the water buoy run by the local coastguard.  We anchored in 5m over mud with three other yachts and two motor-yachts.

Approaching Whangaroa Harbour entrance

In the entrance channel

Zen Again in Owhatanga Bay

On Wednesday we did three runs to and from the water buoy.  This 200 litres filled our tanks and jerries.  Water buoys seem quite common around New Zealand, particularly in remote areas.  They're fed from streams ashore.

Work on the job list continues as always.  We've replaced a worn reefing line and the WindPilot control line.  I've also been working on our New Zealand waypoints in OpenCPN, compiling them from various cruising guides.  Nic's been working on our YouTube videos.

A tranquil anchorage

It's great to be seeing more of Northland.  We're on the lookout for a weather window to take us 'over the top' and S to Abel Tasman National Park on the N coast of South Island.

Trust all's well where you are!

Bay of Islands Cruise 2

Hi everyone,

Our second cruise from Opua took us to two islands in the Bay - Motuarohia and Moturua.  Initially however we borrowed a mooring just off the marina from local sv Sam.

Sunset in Awaawaroa Bay

Here's our track for the cruise...

Cruise 2 Itinerary

While on the mooring we did a few more boat jobs.  One was to install a new ScanStrut Rokk tablet holder.  It mounts very nicely and holds our iPad Minis securely.  Perfect for both navigating inshore using the Navionics Boating app and reading Kindle books at sea.  We also spliced eyes into the ends of our shore lines and repacked them in readily accessible locations.  One of the three 100m shore lines was split into several lengths for use as anchor trip lines.

Tablet holder installed under the dodger

Zen Again on the mooring off the marina

Bay of Islands Marina dinghy dock

After two nights on the mooring we headed out to Motuarohia Island.  Captain Cook anchored S of the island when he first visited the Bay of Islands.  We met Kiwi sv LaVida there.  The last time we'd met Rosco was in Linton Bay, Panama several years ago.  Also aboard LaVida were John and Glenda of sv Roulette.  They briefed us on cruising Fiordland and loaned us a set of South Island cruising guides.

Heading out from Opua

Penguin  off Motuarohia Island

That afternoon we all dinked ashore to walk to the top of the hill.  This is a very popular island with a well-maintained track.  Nice views.

Crew of LaVida, Roulette and Zen Again ashore

At Motuarohia Island we tried out our newly installed stern anchor.  It worked very well.  We found a few gotchas during the testing so feel ready for use 'in anger'.

The following day we moved on to Awaawaroa Bay on Moturua Island.  Initially we were outside the small bay but still well protected from the light to moderate W to N winds.  After a couple of nights we moved further into the bay itself when a gap opened up.  It's a lovely little bay with lots of birds in the trees plus dolphins, penguins, rays, fish and apparently sharks in the water.

LaVida came and went a couple of times during our four night stay.  And we met up with friends on Turkish sv Deriska who were here too.  We joined them in their dink to go around to the other side of the island to a track which circles the island.  Good exercise in great company.

Zen Again and Deriska

Dolphins passing by

On the track

Post-walk sundowner with sv Deriska crew

During our stay we did two long sessions cleaning Zen Again's hull.  The growth in the Bay of Islands Marina was pretty bad so it was good to clean her up.  The water was about 20C which starts to feel cold after a while!

Back in the marina on Tuesday we finally collected our DHL package from Perth.  It contained our warranty replacement Starlink Mini, 12 to 24V converters for the Mini and various computer accessories.  We had hoped to ship the package to French Poly or Tonga but the costs, including import duty, were excessive.  With our New Zealand TIE (Temporary Import Exemption) we can buy and import goods to NZ GST/duty free.

The package

Goodies!

The old Starlink Gen2 system was removed and the new Mini system installed in a few hours.  We re-used the mount on the goalpost.  The voltage converters were mounted in the navstation with the spare mounted ready for rapid connection.  We have redundant engine, solar and Starlink power controllers since they almost guarantee against even a single failure!

Mini mounted

12 to 24V Converters mounted

Navstation

Most evenings we enjoy a beer at the Opua Cruising Club.  Nice way to end the working day!

Rainbows from the Opua Cruising Club

Trust all's well where you are.